Destined
by comatose51
Summary: Life must be fair at some points. Otherwise, we wouldn't be together . . . A collection of Kataang one-shots and drabbles, most of them centered around the older Aang and Katara.
1. Perfect

**Hey there! Y'know, I had a journal full of Kataang oneshots that was just sitting around. I occasionally jot out a story in it, so there are quite a few. I use them to practice writing. But, I figured that I would post them for the fluff ;) Enjoy!**

Bitten

He burst through the front door as soon as he heard her surprised cry of pain.

"Katara!" he called, closing the distance between them in less than a second, "what happened?"

The indignant waterbender scowled at him, sucking on her index finger with a childlike expression dominating her facial features. Pointing with her free hand, she wailed, "It bit me!"

Aang blinked several times in surprise. Curious, he followed her finger- and found an adorable little weasel-snake pup glaring at them from the safety of a wildberry bush. Its bristled tail and bared fangs were obvious indicators that it was thouroughly pissed off.

Aang's initial response was to burst out laughing. After all, an 18-year-old waterbending Master sould know better than to approach the notoriously grouchy weasel-snake. However, Katara's adorable expression melted his heart faster than any fire could. Grinning softly, he kneeled at her side.

"Is it bleeding?" he asked softly, carefully pulling her wounded finger from the nursing of her mouth.

Nodding softly, she murmured, "That little devil has some fangs on him."

"You're lucky he wasn't an adult," Aang responded, watching as little beads of blood swelled atop the punctures. "Adults are venomous." Absent mindedly stroking her palm, he drew her hand to his lips, pressing the harmed finger to his mouth.

Katara instantly flushed, heart stuttering as her brain veered from its track. Gaping momentarily, she fought to regain control of her raging hormones as Aang smiled against her fingertips.

"You are simply adorable," he chuckled, tapping her nose affectionately.

"And you have blood on your lips," Katara stated, somewhat winning her control. Grumbling, seh reached for him, palm firm against his cheek as her thumb scrubbed the scarlet dots from his lips.

"Oops," he laughed, eyes scrunched shut in good-natured mirth.

Katara scrutinized his humorous smile, still stroking his bottom lip. Her movements slowly became lethargic, almost groggy.

Quite frankly, she was intrigued, completely consumed by the features of the young man kneeling in front of her.

She pulled the wounded hand from his own, touching his eyelids. "Don't open your eyes," she demanded.

"Sure thing, Sifu," he chuckled, giving her the thumbs up and leaning back on his hands.

She continued her exploration of his face, tracing his jawbone, the lines around his eyes, his ears, and his temples. She outlined his arrow, careful to keep her bleeding finger from making contact with his skin.

"You know," she said matter-of-factly, "you're kind of perfect."

Aang snorted under hands. "I wish." Opening his eyes, he smiled and added, "hey Katara, guess what?"

"What?"

With a devilish grin plastered to his face, Aang grabbed Katara and fell to his back, causing her to land on his chest. He ignored her cry of protest.

"_You _are the perfect one," he said, gripping her body until she relaxed. Chuckling softly, he pulled her hair away from his face.

"Yeah, right," she mumbled, nestling into his chest. "Who's the one one who was just bitten by a weasel-snake here?"

Aang laughed. Katara felt it resound through his chest.

"You're so cute when you pout," he chuckled, ruffling her hair. In situations like this, Katara always felt like the younger one in the relationship.

"Well, you're always cute," she mumbled.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Aang stroked Katara's hair lovingly, humming a song that Iroh often played on his tsungi horn.

To Katara, this was bliss. Here, they could forget about the problems of the world and the blooming Republic City. Here, among the newly-discovered sky bison and flying lemurs, they could relax and enjoy the thrilling life of newly-weds, a prospect that still made Katara's heart skitter.

She touched the pendant resting at the base of his throat, smiling.

Aang, still humming, began to weave flowers native to the Air Temple Islands through her hair.

"Katara," he said, "we may not be perfect, but . . ."

"But . . . ?"

He gave her a short squeeze. "When I am with you, I feel as close to perfect as I could ever get."

Katara blushed, watching as the bead of blood growing on her fingertip fell, landing in the center of the arrow on his hand. Sighing, she said, "Well, would my fantastically perfect husband like to get me a bandage?"

"Anything for my Forever Girl."

**There you have it! Sorry for any spelling mistakes :D**


	2. Baby Talk

Destined – Part II

Baby Talk

Katara woke to the sound of cooing and gurgles, accompanied by Aang's adult voice.

"Come on, Tenzin," he crooned, "it's not that hard . . . enunciate! Say 'Daaaaddy'!"

Katara giggled, keeping her voice low enough so as not to announce that she was awake.

She heard Aang sigh. "Why are you so cute?" The bed rustled when he stood up, carrying Tenzin in loving arms. Katara heard him patting the baby's back.

"I'm glad you look like me," Aang sighed. "Of course, you may be disappointed that you didn't get mom's beautiful skin tone . . . Eh, my skin is pretty nice, I guess."

Katara smiled to herself, fingers curling around the warm blanket.

"Maybe," Aang continued, "since you _look _like me, you'll be an airbender, too . . . I need to share my heritage with _someone, _after all."

Tenzin gurgled, squealing in delight.

"Oh, well . . . even if you're not an airbender, you could have airbender kids. I don't care . . . I just want you to know that I love you and always will."

Tenzin sniffed.

"Allergies?" Aang asked, knowing that the baby could not understand him. "Well, you get _that _from your mother. Let me grab your burp-cloth before you-"

AAAAAAA-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The room suddenly exploded into a typhoon. Wind howled, object fell from the shelves, and the covers were blasted off of the bed. Then, it was over.

Katara was sitting straight up, hair tangled beyond belief.

Aang stood at the base of the bed, holding Tenzin at arms length. An expression of complete shock emulated from his face.

Katara met his eyes, mouth agape.

Tenzin laughed, his sweet baby voice a gentle prompt.

Katara waited for Aang to react. She watched him carefully, expecting a whoop of happiness or a laugh of joy.

No. Instead, Aang's lip trembled. A single tear rolled down his cheek. Sobbing, he clutched baby Tenzin to his chest.

Aang's title of "the last" was gone.


	3. Learning from the Past

**It's summer . . . therefore, I will be updating frequently until I enter my first semester of college! Enjoy.**

Destined – Part III

Teaching from the Past

"This is all my fault," Katara choked, searching for the tiny fractures littering Aang's bones. "If only I had been there . . . I _should _have been there!"

"It's all right, sweetie," her husband assured, reverting to her old nickname, "please don't blame yourself. Yakone was dangerous; I didn't want you or the children in harm's way."

Katara frowned, focusing intensely on another fracture. "Aang, I was the one who banned bloodbending. I should have been there to oversee the trial. I could have saved you the pain! His bloodbending wouldn't have affected me!"

The water humming around Aang's armed seared a bright blue, signaling the complete healing of the wound.

"Somebody had to watch Tenzin and Bumi," Aang pointed out. "They needed to know that everything would be all right."

"Well, yes, but-"

"Katara. You were in the South Pole."

"I know!" she wailed, intensifying the water pressure.

"Ouch-! Watch the temperature, love!" Aang yelped, pulling his arm away.

"Sorry . . ." she cooled it in an instant, pulling his arm back into its healing embrace. "I'm just sad that this had to happen to you."

Aang chuckled. "Well, that's what happens when your body is twisted back and forth like a grotesque puppet."

"Don't joke about it," she growled, eyes dark and sullen. "I'm still upset with you for lying about Yakone's trial date."

"he was the one who requested the change, not me," Aang reminded her, wagging his finger. "Sokka was the one who insisted on sending Hawky Junior, and you know how old that stinkin' bird is."

He waited for her reply, but none came. They remained silent, eyes avoided, hearts beating.

Katara finished her final heal, drawing the water away almost reluctantly. She wished she had something more to heal, just so her heart could feel as if she were needed. She wanted to atone for her absence in his presence of a world-class criminal.

"I'm going to bed," she yawned, dumping the used water down the drain a few feet away.

"Oh, no you're not!" Aang laughed, grabbing hold of her waist and plopping down on the plush rocking chair. "I haven't seen you in days, Katara! We need to catch up."

She sighed, snuggling into his chest. "Well, since I was absent, you should tell me about how Yakone hurt a room full of people because I was not there."

Aang groaned, droppign his head against the back of the rocking chair. "Katara, forget about it . . . Toph and Sokka are fine, and so are all of the representatives and witnesses. No one blames you; they're all grateful to you for healing them so quickly."

"Still," she countered, tracing the arrow on the back of his hand, "I could have stopped him."

Aang exhaled, shaking his head. He placed a hand over Katara's mouth. "Let me tell you a saying the monks taught me . . ."

She grumbled under his palm, breath escaping between his fingers.

He grinned, pulling her body closer to his, increasing their warmth. "When I was nine, me and Kuzon met up at the Fire Nation Festival. The monks had surprised us that year with a vacation. Anyways, when me and Kuzon ran off to enjoy the festival, we ran into some trouble. Now, this is when the world was on the very brink of war, and tensions were rising . . . we were dangling over the edge of the knife. Of course, I had no idea. I was nine . . . Well, most of the Fire Nation was already displaying acts of dominance and superiority over other nation members."

"Seriously?"

Aang nodded, tapping a rhythm on her forehead. "i thought that it was just bullying. Only now do I realize serious their harmful actions were."

"Geez . . ."

"Yeah. Me and Kuzon happened to cross a group of boys who were our age. They saw me . . ." Aang halted, rhythm forgotten. "Sorry," he coughed, "this memory is a little difficult to recall without feeling . . . certain emotions. Anywho . . . they instantly began to make fun of me. The names I am able to recall are 'baldy', 'freak', and 'coward'.

Katara stared in disbelief. "What?!"

"I didn't mind, Katara . . . well, I was a _little _hurt. But we had been warned. However, Kuzon was furious. He began to yell back, to defend me. He told them that I was one of his best friends, that he wouldn't let anybody make fun of me and my people."

Katara took that moment to lace their fingers together. It was like wearing a perfectly fitted glove.

Aand smiled, kissing her knuckles. "The bullies were angry. They called him, a mere nine year old child, a traitor to his nation. To them, he was scum . . . One of the kids got his hands on Kuzon . . . I was a young monk, taught never to seek or join fights. I remained behind, sobbing a screaming as they beat my friend to a pulp, eight to one. I screamed until Monk Gyatso finally found me. He scattered the bullies easily."

"Was Kuzon okay?" Katara asked hesitantly.

"No," he replied, jaw clenching. "He was unconscious. I followed Gyatso. We took him to the infirmary right away."

Katara listened intently.

"I sat at Kuzon's bedside all night, crying like a baby. The healers weren't waterbenders. The waterbenders were also heavily discriminated against."

"Doesn't surprise me."

Aang nodded. "Yeah, it was bad. It got worse . . . when Kuzon's parents showed up. They had been second parents to me . . . they used to truly care for me . . ." he trailed off, avoiding Katara's gaze.

She buried her head into his bare chest, inhaling his scent. "If it's too hard, you don't have to tell me . . ."

Aang cleared his throat, facing forward once again. "It's all right," he replied, clutching her body to his. "It's just hard to remember my emotions. They were raw."

"Yeah . . ."

He continued. "Well, when his parents got there, they were already very worried. They had heard the entire story. To them, it was all my fault. I was alone in Kuzon's room. When they entered . . . Well, I guess you could say that it turned into a verbal massacre."

"Aang . . ." Katara murmered, incredulous.

"It was awful. Again, I did not fight back. I cowered in the corner, accepting their verbal abuse. Once again, Monk Gyatso had to rescue me."

"What kind of stuff did they say?" Katara asked.

Aang pulled a stray hair from her shoulder. "Things that I would never repeat in front of my wife . . . or anybody, for that matter."

"Ah . . ."

"When Gyatso was leading me from the room, Kuzon's mom, Saiyo, said: 'If you ever come near our son again, you _will _regret it.' I was devastated. For days and days, I wouldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, and I fell into depression."

"I can't imagine you depressed," Katara said, meeting his eyes. "You're always so happy and optimistic."

"I wasn't at that time," he said. "Soon, the monks began to worry. However, their soothing words never worked. One day, Gyatso finally came to my rescue once again. He came to my room. I broke down. I asked him why, _why _couldn't I have helped my best friend? Why did he fight, knowing that I couldn't help him? Why did he have to suffer while I didn't receive a single scratch?"

"So, is this where my lesson comes in?" Katara wondered aloud.

"Yes, love," Aang chuckled, kissing the top of her head. "Gyatso listened to my outburst patiently, eyes closed. When I was done, he replied with one little saying: 'You should not mourn for those you love when they place their life in the hands of Fate for you or for the sake of others. Rejoice, for that is the ultimate and most giving act they will ever have to offer.'"

The words pounded in Katara's heart. "So, I should rejoice that you had hundreds of fractures in your old bones?!"

"No, Katara," he sighed, tilting her head up by the chin. "You should realize that you don't have to worry. I fought Yakone for Republic City, my dear friends, my beloved children, and for _you._ You need to realize that. In a weird way, it's me telling you that I love you more than anything in this whole world."

And, before she could protest or speak, he kissed her softly, and she melted on the spot.

It was quite lovely until soft footsteps were heard.

"Ugh!" Tenzin choked, "get a room!"

**I apologize for any spelling errors . . . It's my curse ;)**


End file.
